62061: Acronis Disaster Recovery Service: Backup Agent mass update guide using management console for Acronis Disaster Recovery Users (50230)

Last update: 23-11-2018

This document is composed by Acronis Disaster Recovery Service technical support and intended for Acronis Disaster Recovery Service customers who are using Acronis Backup Advanced 11.x transport. The document describes automated update procedure to update Acronis Agents for Windows and Acronis Agents for Linux along with other components installed to the protected server to a newest version - 11.7 Update 1 Hotfix 5. 

Acronis Agent for Active directory and Acronis Agent for Hyper-V can be updated using this procedure. Acronis Agent for Microsoft SQL server and Microsoft Exchange server are not supported for automated update. 

It is recommended to follow the update procedure using Management Console for these scenarios:

  • To update a large number of Acronis Backup Agents on protected servers with Windows or Linux in a single pass.
  • When updating Microsoft Exchange servers and Microsoft SQL servers protected with application-aware specific Acronis agents.
  • This procedure is not applicable for updating Acronis Agent for VMWare virtual appliances. In order to update virtual appliances please refer to ADRS Acronis Agents for ESXi Update Guide.

You need a user account with Windows Administrator privileges for all of the servers where updated is planned.

Please keep in mind that in some rare cases you may be prompted to restart the server after Acronis Backup Agent update. The restart can be postponed, still it is recommended to have a maintenance window available for it to complete at the earliest.

Prepare for the Update

  1. In order to perform the automated update, you will need a workstation with Acronis Management Console latest version 11.7 Update 1 Hotfix 5 installed. Make sure that your current version is 11.7.50058 or 11.7.50064 (or older builds: 11.7.50054, 11.7.44421). In order to check your product version, please open Acronis Management console, connect to Acronis Management Server and click Help -> about. If your build differs from the list, please use another guide.

         You can update your already installed Console to the latest version or deploy a new one.

    • Download the installation file AcronisBackupAdvanced_11.7_50230_en-US.exe from this link and copy it to the workstation where you will be running Management Console.
    • Run the installation file with Administrator privileges and click Install Acronis Backup. Go along with the installation or update path depending on your needs, but make sure to select only Acronis Backup Management Console to be installed when asked:

  1. Computer with Acronis Management Console installed should have network access to all of the machines planned for agents’ update. Following ports should be accessible for Console on the remote hosts:
    For all hosts: 9876
    Additionally for Windows hosts: 445, 25001
    Additionally for Linux hosts: 22 (SSH daemon must be running)
  2. If you are going to update Acronis Agent(s) for Linux download the installation files:
    Agent for Linux 32 bit download link
    Agent for Linux 64 bit download link
  3. Copy downloaded installation files to the following folder on the workstation where the Acronis Management Console have been installed:
    C:\Program Files\Common Files\Acronis\RemoteInstaller\50230
  4. Prepare a simple text file with IP addresses of hosts where agent update is needed. Each IP address should be placed to a separate line in the file. In some cases it is a good practice to create separate lists for Windows and Linux machines or split the total list of servers to several portions 10-15 machines each, since simultaneous update of a large number of servers may take a significant time. The resulting file should look like:

For the list of servers you are protecting please refer to your Acronis Management Server interface. The list of all installed agents along with IP addresses is given under Machines with agents -> All machines with agents. Please make sure to exclude all Virtual Appliances (they might contain ‘VMA’/'VA'/'Appliance’ in their names)

Update procedure

  1. Start Acronis Management Console configured as described in the previous section. Do not connect the console to any Agent or Management server. 
  2. Click Tools menu on top of the screen and choose Install Acronis components item

  1. Click From file:

If you have not created the IP address file on the preparation step you can add hosts one by one using IP address or DNS name with the By IP/name button.

  1. Click the Browse button and find a file with IP addresses list you have created on the preparation step. Enter the Windows Administrator or Linux root credentials for the hosts listed. If you have no single password with administrative privileges for all of the hosts, enter the one that works for most of them. It will be possible to enter valid credentials for other hosts later.
  2. Acronis remote update tool will check the status for all of the hosts in the list. Acronis components installed is a desired result for a check. It means update tool is ready to proceed with components update. Sometimes you can meet error messages on this step:

  1. Click View error details link for each of the machines with error and scroll error stack to the very bottom in order to check the reason for the error.

Most common situations and the ways to resolve it are listed below:

  • Credentials are not correct for the host in question (shown on the above picture). In order to fix this error click Edit button on the right and correct the credentials for particular machine.
  • Automated update tool cannot communicate with the target server using required ports. See Prepare for Installation section of this guide for the list of ports. Resolve network connectivity issues and restart the update procedure from step 1. 
  • If it is not possible to resolve the issue at the moment, remove erroneous server from the list using Remove button on the right. Note the server name to get back to it later. For any questions see Troubleshooting section of this guide. 
  1. After dealing with all the errors (if any) click Next button to proceed with update. While preparing this manual we have entered correct credentials for 2 servers with error messages. One of the servers on the picture below is a Linux server, so we are using root user name to update it. 

  1. Check Acronis Backup 11.7 Agent for Windows and\or Acronis Backup 11.7 Agent for Linux components. If there are no Windows or Linux hosts in the list, the respective components will be grayed out. Acronis Backup 11.7 Agent Core component is mandatory for any Agent installation and will be checked automatically. Click Next to proceed.

  1. Check warning messages for any possible issues and take appropriate steps if needed. Click Next to proceed.

  1. Select Use licenses from the following license server option and enter IP address of your Cloud-based Acronis Management Server. Enter credentials you are usually using to connect to the Management server. Click Next to proceed.